Weather was a factor during Saturday's Zhik 29er Class World Championships

LONG BEACH >> With wind conditions that consistently shifted during the six-day Zhik 29er Class World Championships, consistency was the key to victory.

After three days of qualifying, the 129 teams were broken into three series — gold, silver and bronze.

On Saturday, the best navigators of the weekend proved to be 21-year-old Alex Burger and 16-year-old Benji Daniel of South Africa as they sailed away with a first-place finish in the Gold Series.

The duo proved that even though the wind conditions were unpredictable, a consistent run was the key to victory. Daniel initially saw this event as a leaing experience and didn’t have high expectations after traveling from Durban, South Africa.

“Coming from South Africa with a smaller fleet, we wanted to lea as much as we can in the short amount of time we had,” Daniel said. “To come away with the winning it is a masterful thing on top.”

During the course of the week, Daniel and Burger posted eight top-five finishes and started the final day of competition with a third-place finish, essentially locking up the victory.

In their second race, the pair tried something different and had a 33rd-place finish, but the team bounced back winning the final race of the day.

“What we need today, was one really good race,” Burger said. “We went and did that in the first race, so from then on the pressure was off a little bit and we tried a bit of a risky start and that back fired a bit and we had to fight our way back. Going into the final race we thought it would be best to win this thing with some style so we gave it everything we had and it worked out well.”

Rounding out the top three Gold Series finishes was Benjamin Jafferezic and Leo Chauvel, and Theo Revil and Gautler Guevel of France.

The best United States finish went to Allie Toppa and Jacob Rosenberg from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Taking the Silver Series was New Zealand’s Ben Paterson and Sean Paterson. The duo proved to navigate the conditions perfectly, finishing outside of the top 10 only once.

In the Bronze Series, Lorenzo Bed and Philipp Rump of Porto Alegre, Brazil had an impressive week, finishing in the top three four times.

Locals Christina Van Dyke and Isabelle Meegan finished 34th in the Bronze Series and enjoyed the experience of competing with some of the world’s best.

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“It was a lot of fun, even though we didn’t end up placing too well,” Van Dyke said. “It was really cool seeing everyone come together in Long Beach.”

This Alamitos Bay Yacht Club-hosted event marked the first time the 29er event had taken place in the United States since the 2005 San Francisco Worlds.

During the last race of the Silver Series, lifeguards had to respond to an medical emergency involving 16-year-old Johnny Durcan of Ireland, who’s boat capsized and he was found unresponsive. After fast thinking from a nearby coach and fellow sailers, Durcan was pulled to safety and brought to the shore for medical aid. According to officials, he was transported to St. Mary’s and will be kept oveight.

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